


Brought Me To You

by Jedi Buttercup (jedibuttercup)



Series: The Other Agent Carter [2]
Category: Person of Interest (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, Character of Color, Crossover, F/M, Fix-It, Gift Fic, Season/Series 03, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 19:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2703206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedibuttercup/pseuds/Jedi%20Buttercup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John tried to get a hold of Joss several more times as events unfolded, revealing the old monster, HYDRA, rising from the corpse of the organization founded to destroy it. But she never answered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brought Me To You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nevrafire](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=nevrafire).



> Because Joss, and also because I realized that the episode in which Decima successfully shut down the government's access to the Machine happened three days before Captain America 2 aired in theaters. Cue plot!

If there was one good thing about SHIELD luring Joss away from the NYPD, John mused, it was that she'd got out before the messy collapse of HR and Decima's multi-layered attempt to supplant the Machine. A lot of blood had been shed in the year since she'd left, not all of it deserving, including Joss' friend Szymanski and a number of others whose only crimes had been trusting the wrong people.

She'd stuck it out for a couple of months before taking the offer, determined to keep on top of the FBI's investigation into the Man in the Suit, but after Kara Stanton's brief, bloody return to his life and all the complications that had followed, Joss had finally washed her hands of the city and its corruption. John hadn't blamed her. It had been to their benefit that the agency had decided to close the case and credit it to the recently deceased Mark Snow, but the quickly retracted offer for her to join the FBI that had followed, derailed by her boyfriend's IA record that she hadn't even known about, had led her to decide that her best chance at doing the most good would be to walk away while she still could.

Implicit in SHIELD's offer, of course, had been her connection to him and Finch. Joss had speculated that whatever it was that rated them as a potential threat to humanity, SHIELD wanted on tap to wield against future _inhuman_ threats. Finch hadn't disagreed; though he'd been curious why they needed that connection, given that the Machine was already giving the relevant numbers, the ones SHIELD would logically be interested in, to the government. But he'd concluded it was better to have an inside connection than otherwise.

They'd decided to break the news to Joss about the Machine first, in case that changed her mind; but as it turned out, she'd already put enough together from various clues they'd dropped to have the general idea of a supercomputer sifting government feeds, if not the specifics. And that, ironically enough, had been the last push Finch had needed to accept even such passive monitoring, rather than trying to escape detection and go further underground.

If one detective working alone could discern the truth from their behavior patterns, they'd never realistically had any hope of hiding their activities from an agency like SHIELD. If they were to continue helping people at all... well, better the devil they knew. Since Joss had left, he'd spent a lot of time talking to someone called Jarvis about the potential of artificial intelligence and the Machine's development, particularly since Decima's virus had forced the Machine to reset and triggered the failsafe protocol to set it free.

In the meantime, SHIELD had kept their promise to leave them on a long leash, and kept Joss busy learning the ins and outs of the organization and working with difficult agents who responded to a strong hand coupled with a sharp mind, a wry wit, and a little willingness to be flexible about the rules better than they did to more by the book handlers. Her eyes had laughed at John over the rim of her coffee cup when she'd told him it was a damn good thing she'd had practice.

John was glad for her; he really was. He missed her, but they were both making a difference where they were, and until that changed again, as long as he still got to see her from time to time, he could cope. She wasn't Jessica; he hadn't left her behind, and she'd never really been his to lose. And she was making a difference in her new job: apparently, she compared favorably to a recently deceased legend within SHIELD, and was quickly making a name of her own there.

Which, actually, was another good thing about SHIELD stealing her for themselves. It gave John and Harold somewhere to turn when the unbelievable happened: mere days after Decima succeeded in closing down Northern Lights and the Machine began redirecting the relevant numbers to Root, it gave her _Alexander Pierce's_ number-- the former Secretary of Defense, currently on the Council that oversaw SHIELD-- before feeding another very unexpected number to Finch and then going into some kind of mechanical seizure. Finch said it was as though it was so overwhelmed with threats, it couldn't even begin to prioritize which number to give them next... and given the number they had already, John was inclined to take that assessment seriously.

"John," Joss answered the phone warmly, a smile audible in her voice. "It's good to hear from you. We missed you for dinner this Tuesday."

"Couldn't be helped," he replied, wryly. "Finch and Fusco actually did make it to DC in my place, but unfortunately not for such a pleasant reason."

"While _you_ were exiled to a high school reunion in Westchester," she teased. "That must have been fun."

"Oh, you have no idea," he replied. He'd _much_ rather have had Joss on his arm than Shaw. But it was what it was. "We got the job done... but things have gone a little haywire since. I thought SHIELD was keeping an eye on us; we were a little surprised when the news about Northern Lights broke without any attempt to mitigate it, and Senator Garrison ordered the program shut down."

She sighed at that, the amusement seeping out of her voice. "I know; I had the same questions. And believe me, I asked. But no one here seemed to have any answers, and I haven't been able to reach Agent Romanov...."

She broke off abruptly, then; he heard a sharp intake of breath over some kind of announcement in the background. She must have still been at the office. 

"Joss?"

"Director Fury's just been killed," she said quickly, voice harsh with shock. "John? I'm afraid I'm going to have to call you back."

"Joss?" John interjected hurriedly; that news made it even more imperative that she know what the Machine had told them. "Joss, wait, I think this is connected...."

The line went dead in the middle of the sentence, and he swore, trying her again fruitlessly before calling Finch to pass on the news. "We're on our own on this one, Finch. Fury's down. I'm thinking Pierce looks good for the perpetrator, if Root got his number instead of Fury's. And in that case, I think that also tells us why the other number came through the non-relevant channel; it's probably personal, from the same source. Have you been able to get anything else out of the Machine yet?"

"A handful of other numbers; every last one connected to Mr. Stark, and all of them equally well known to the media," Finch replied, tersely. "I've passed a warning to Jarvis; but if you're right... I'll coordinate with him on accessing information on Pierce. He has better access to SHIELD's systems than I do."

One of these days, John was going to have to meet Tony Stark's pet hacker; from what Finch had relayed, he sounded like a guy John would get along with. In the meantime, though, they had numbers to save. "Did Shaw turn in her personal assistant application?"

"Yes; she has an appointment at the Tower this afternoon. She'll keep an eye on as many of them as she can, for as long as she can; in the meantime, I've traced some rather unusual activity to the SHIELD offices in New York. When I tried to reach them directly today-- under a pseudonymous connection, of course-- I received no answer, and utility records show a much lower than usual consumption of energy at that location in the last forty-eight hours."

John frowned; the puzzle pieces had been dropping thick and fast the last couple of days, and each one that clicked into place just made the picture darker. "I'll go check it out."

"Be careful, John."

"You, too."

* * *

The _next_ few days passed in a flurry of adrenaline and panic. John tried to get a hold of Joss several more times as events unfolded: as SHIELD turned first on Captain America, who incidentally was one of the second tier of numbers Finch had received, and then on its own loyal agents, revealing the old monster, HYDRA, rising from the corpse of the organization founded to destroy it. But she never answered. He made sure that her son Taylor, at least, was safe with his father; then tracked down and eliminated a couple of rogue HYDRA cells in SHIELD clothing attempting to invade Stark Tower and several other Avengers' residences in the city.

At some point during the mayhem, he ended up fending off assailants in the Tower lobby with Iron Man and Shaw at his side; when the last shot had been fired, Stark barked a laugh and raised his mask, commenting that he really should have suspected the latest PA was yet another SHIELD plant.

"Not quite SHIELD," John answered, wryly. "They wanted us, but we were a little wary. Justified, as it turns out."

Stark laughed again at that. "Carry on, then. I'm going to check on Pep; keep an eye on my building, would you?" He winked at Shaw, then dropped the mask again and lifted off in his suit.

"And they called _you_ the Man in the Suit," Shaw commented dryly, slamming a fresh magazine into her weapon.

"I suppose that means I should be flattered," John replied, smirking at her. Though honestly, while he'd had some strange assignments in the past, both before and after meeting Finch, nothing _had_ really compared to what had happened since they'd received Stark's number. At least, he supposed, he hadn't had to try to protect the man while he was being attacked by an electric whip wielding madman in the middle of the Monaco Grand Prix; thank the Machine for small favors.

On that note, he left the building, on to the next of Finch's numbers; he figured Stark was safe enough while the man was in the air.

Hours later, Finch alerted him to the sudden dump of SHIELD's database to the internet, and his own and Jarvis' efforts to sanitize anything critical before it could get out. Decima's attempts to replace the Machine would be left alone; at least the release would spell the end of _that_ threat, amid all the fresh ones created. One side or the other must have won. But when he turned on the nearest TV to catch the official spin, the sight of the Triskelion in ruins and three wrecked helicarriers cluttering up the Potomac belied any hope.

"Joss," he murmured, reaching out to leave a smeared fingerprint on the screen.

He'd done what he could in New York. He was needed in DC, now.

Hours later, he snapped alert from a half-doze on her front porch to see a bruised but otherwise intact Agent Carter accompanied by one of her co-workers... the other, much blonder Agent Carter. The women were leaning on one another, the picture of weariness; but Joss' face lit up at the sight of John, and she shooed her friend off with a quick word and a nod.

She collapsed onto the porch swing next to him, drinking him in with her eyes the same way he was staring at her, gaze catching on every scratch and bloodstain.

"I thought I'd lost you," he said softly, as she finally relaxed and tucked her head against his shoulder. His arm snaked around her; he couldn't resist gathering her close, a liberty he rarely allowed himself to take in public. "You were supposed to be safer with SHIELD. If anything had happened to you...."

"You're stuck with me, remember?" she replied quietly. "After all the shit that went down in New York, you think I was going to let some Nazi knockoff take me down? There's not enough no in the world."

"Glad to hear it," he said, swallowing around the lump in his throat. "Joss...."

"Shhh," she said, tipping her head back to look him in the eye. Then she leaned up the last few inches, pressing her lips against his; a reassuring, almost passionless caress, but no less precious for that.

She pulled back again after a moment, resting her head back against his shoulder. John took the hint and settled in to absorb the moment, simply basking in each other's presence after the stresses of the day.

The world might be a wreck, but they still had this. 

Everything else would still be waiting for them in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Reese, Finch, and/or Zoe or Carter; Phil Coulson or Tony Stark as the number. Reese thought he'd had some strange assignments in the past - before and during his current work with Finch. But nothing could prepare him for this number. (Sneak in Reese/Carter or Reese/Zoe and I'll love you forever!)"


End file.
